The Trick To Life
by reasonistreason
Summary: Alternate to the first half of 'The Forest Again' in Deathly Hallows, where Ron and Hermione accompany Harry into the forest to face Voldemort instead of him doing it alone.


Finally, the truth. Harry breathed in deeply, inhaling dust from the carpeted floor of Dumbledore's old office, and picked himself up. Hermione and Ron watched him anxiously from one side, hands clasped together tightly, tear streaked faces round with worry and distress. 'What happened? What did you see?' Hermione dared a query and watched him as he stood unsteadily, tilted to one side and looking around with confusion, looking mildly uncertain of his surroundings. 'I…' He managed to stammer out, his brow creasing. 'Snape. He was protecting me… all this time…' An crushing guilt suddenly overcame him and he stumbled, only to be caught by Ron's steady arms. And then an even bigger realization came to him, bringing him to his knees. 'I have to die,' he gasped to himself, excruciating terror washing over him, layered over his remorse, his horror, his shock.

He could barely imagine that he would have to walk to his death - alone, facing the unknown. To save the rest, he had to sacrifice himself. Not unlike what all those people had had to do to defend the school from the Death Eaters, to defend him… The faces of the people he knew who had died protecting him flashed into his mind's eye; Fred - and Lupin and Tonks, even with their child at home - and so many faceless students that he had not been able to bear identifying, and all of them had willingly thrown themselves into the fray to protect him, Harry Potter, just so he could walk to his demise a few hours later. The devastating reality of his situation hit him like a blow to the gut and he nearly passed out, sagging as his best friend, ever loyal, held him up with one arm.

'What do you mean, you have to die?' Hermione managed to stammer out the second question, but her voice was faint, like she couldn't bear to hear the answer - and really, she couldn't. Harry could tell she was just as scared as him, her hands were trembling - but she was trying to hide it, trying to be brave, for him. Slowly, he drew a deep breath, and he explained the situation to his best friends: he was the final horcrux. They had to locate Nagini, kill it, and then wait for him to walk to his death. He had to die for Voldemort to die. And there was no other way to do it - this was a journey he was certain he would have to do alone. The explanation took him only half a minute, and as he stopped to draw another breath, to prepare himself for the barrage of refusals to leave his side, he was stopped by the look of pure determination on his friends' faces. It was the look that Ron and Hermione had assumed when he had told them he would be hunting for horcruxes alone, that same single-mindedness that possessed them whenever he proposed the suggestion of doing something devastatingly important on his own. They laid their hands on his arms and wordlessly pulled him to his feet. 'You're not doing this alone, mate. No way.' Ron growled out the words, ruthlessly gripping Harry's arm to the point of pain. 'I've lost one brother - I don't need to lose another.' Harry bit his lip against the pain of his fingernails digging into his forearm. 'He'll kill you both,' he gasped in pain, and Hermione glared fiercely at him as Ron, noticing Harry was in pain, released him and mumbled an apology. 'We'll hide. We'll take the cloak.' Then she looked him straight in the eyes and murmured, 'We're not leaving you.'

They argued for another five minutes at least, five minutes he did not mind spending - five minutes that he would have alive before going to let himself die. When it became certain that they would not budge and there was no way he could trap them so they would stay away, he conceded. Better them than nobody, he thought. They could run. They could at least walk him to the forest. That wouldn't do them any harm. Perhaps it was selfish - in fact, Harry knew it was - but he did not want to die knowing he was alone. Together, with the cloak thrown over their heads, they snuck down the staircases, onto the grounds littered with dead bodies, towards the forests. Once they were sure they were alone, they removed the too-small cloak, and stared into the dark together. 'Are you sure you want to do this?' Harry whispered into the dark, the forest unnaturally hushed around him. He heard Hermione's breath catch, practically hearing her throat block up, and Ron's deep breathing halt for a second before starting again with the same steady pace. Harry own heart hammered like a hummingbird's in his chest, terror seizing his entire body again for a second before he heard Ron's deep, frighteningly calm voice in the still air. 'Sure.' Hermione followed suit, rasping through the knot in her throat. 'Very sure.'

And so they took each other's hands and faced their uncertain futures as one; Hermione, her dirty, bloody face streaked with tear tracks and full of a raw, rough desperation, Ron, the despairing expression that came with losing his brother replaced with a fierce single-minded determination, and Harry, ever brave, gripping his friends as if without them he would forget what he had come to do, as if he would forget what his entire life had been leading up to. As they grasped each others hands with clammy, sweaty palms, they stared into the darkness of the forest, terrified but resolved all the same. They would enter this together, just as they had done for so many years. Harry would not do this alone. They were together, just as they had always been. The Golden Trio, facing their destiny.


End file.
